SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 21, 1 June 1922, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

I - By "VOLT" =====

HARNESSING THE AIR : ELECTRIC POWER FROM THE SKY. Hermann Paulson, one of Germany’s leading scientists, lias recently developed an invention, that bids fair to solve the power problem for German industry (says Science and Invention , New York). The inventor makes it possible to centralise the electric power that resides in the atmosphere, with practically no limit to volume. Herr Paulson found that a single balloon sent aloft to a height of 300 yards gave a constant current of 400 volts of 1.8 amperes, or in twenty-four hours more than 17-1 kilowatts. By using two balloons in connection with a special condenser battery, the power obtained was 811 . kilowatts in twenty-four hours. The actual current delivered was 6.8 amperes at 500 volts. The balloons used by the inventor are made of thin aluminium leaf. No fabric is used. - A simple internal system of ribs, stays, and wires gives the balloon rigidity as well as a certain amount of elasticity. The balloon, when made air-tight, is filled with helium, which is non-inflammable, and will keep a balloon aloft for several weeks. The outer face is dotted with pins, sharpened electronically and made of amalgam of zinc, containing a radium preparation in order to ionize the air. At his experimental station Herr Paulson has 100 such captive balloons, 100 yards from each other, which give a steady yield of 200 horse power. In the winter, due to the higher electrification of the atmosphere, more than 400 horse power' is developed. By the use. batteries of condensers, high tension transformers, etc., the current is transformed as desired for light, heat, and power. By using an electrostatic rotary transformer he gets alternating current without the use of condensers and transformers. Its output has proved to be very great, as it actually “sucks” the current down rapidly from the collector balloons. • After the cost of the installation there is no expense. Tien 1 an Ison s station has been developing enough current day and night for the past month to operate a small plant. The German authorities believe that his invention will solve the power problem brought about by the great scarcity of fuel in that country. DUST A MILE HIGH. Flying in a dust cloud nearly a mile high, and in a temperature which varied from 120 degrees to 127 degrees in the shade, the pilot of an aeroplane engaged on the north-vest aerial mail route passed through an unenviable period on March 13 (says the Melbourne Argus). Severe handicaps have checked the extension of civil aviation in Australia. Its broad spaces have made the work of laying out and clearing landing grounds very difficult, and its variable atmospheric conditions have disorganised the time-tables of the aerial mail contractors in Western Australia and elsewhere. Climatic conditions are more favorable in Victoria and the central southern portions of Australia than in Western Australia, where the approximate distance of the aerial mail route between Perth and Port Headland is 1050 miles. West Australian Airways, Ltd., the contractors, have only recently been able to put into operation the weekly time-table which had been arranged, and the prospects are better now than before. The experience of the aerial mail on March 13, an officer of the civil aviation department said, demonstrates the capabilities of the aeroplane in unique weather conditions. On the journey the temperature was 127 degrees at Winning Pool, and 120 degrees at Onslow. From Onslow conditions became worse, and 100 miles farther along the route dense clouds of dust were encountered at an altitude of 5000 ft. Flying was rendered more hazardous by the prevalence of “cock-eyes,” or whirl-winds, and by low visibility, but the journey was accomplished without mishap.